At this point, you've gotten pretty far into chords and theory and can make your way through myriad musical situations with confidence. You've analyzed your favorite pop songs and more with ease, and now you've decided to step up.

Wanting to analyze the score of a symphony orchestra, you went to the library to see what was available. You decided to go German and checked out one of Beethoven's nine symphonies. Now, you'd like to know what's going on in his head; he is a genius, after all.

So you crack open the score for the Ninth Symphony and see that there are a lot of instruments in it. Here's what you see in the score listing of required instruments:

• Piccolo

• Flute

• Oboe

• Clarinet (in B, C, and A)

• Bassoon

• Contrabassoon

• French horns (in D, E)

• Trumpet (in B and D)

• Trombones

• Percussion, including pitched percussion (timpani)

• Violin

• Viola

• Cello

• Bass

• Four-part choir

Well, that's quite a list. What's even worse is that there are instruments that you don't recognize. What's an A clarinet? Horns in D, E, B, and bass B? What is going on?

Welcome to a full symphony score of the nineteenth century. A conductor/composer would only view scores like this: transposing scores. You are looking at what the players read on their music stands. You are going to have to transpose the parts into concert pitch to figure out what's there, and you'll have to do it basically at first sight.

Begin by picking a few single chords to analyze in the fourth movement. (The fourth movement contains the famous “Ode to Joy” that everyone knows and loves.) Now, the Ninth Symphony is very long, so only two measures (in the key of D minor) are being looked at here.

Although you have the full listing of instruments, Beethoven does not use them all at the same time. The section you are looking at features only flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, contrabassoon, horn in D, horn in B, trumpet in D, timpani, violin, viola, cello, and bass. Take a look at the excerpt in FIGURE 14.9. (On the CD, the voices are played with a synthetic symphony orchestra. Try listening to a real recording of this monumental piece.)

It's pretty impressive-looking, right? The chords in question are highlighted on the staff. To start, you need to figure out which instruments are in concert key and which ones need to be transposed. This is actually easier than you think. Remember the listing of instruments (which is also on the score excerpt)? If the instrument isn't concert pitch (that is, it transposes), it will tell you in its name, such as B clarinet and so on.

FIGURE 14.9 Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Excerpt

So, look only at the transposing instruments (figure 14.10) and figure out what they are really playing.

FIGURE 14.10 Transposing Instruments

FIGURE 14.10 segregates the clarinet, French horns, and the trumpet. Go over their transpositions one by one so you know what to do to each instrument to bring it to concert key.

• Clarinet in B. Everything is written a whole step higher than concert pitch. Transpose the notes down a whole step.

• Horn in D (the horn in B isn't used in this example). Everything is written a whole step down. To read it in concert pitch, transpose the notes up a whole step.

• Trumpet in D. This is the same as the French horn in D; transpose it up a whole step to get to concert pitch.

Now you need to adjust those notes so that they read in concert pitch. FIGURE 14.11 shows what they look like in concert pitch.

FIGURE 14.11 Transposing Instruments in Concert Pitch

Now throw them back in the score in concert pitch and start analyzing. FIGURE 14.12 presents the full score in concert pitch.

FIGURE 14.12 Full Score in Concert Pitch

Start reading from the bottom up and put some chords together. Remember that the bass and the contrabassoon are the lowest-sounding pitches, so you can get your roots from there. Amazingly enough, when you analyze the piece, you come to these three chords (see figure 14.13).

FIGURE 14.13 Chord Analysis

B, G minor, and A triads! Triads! What, were you expecting more? There are so many instruments in an orchestra that you'd figure there would be many different notes. Wrong. The basic foundations of harmony don't change. Beethoven was a tonal composer, and in those times, tonal meant triadic and seventh chords. So, all in all, it's just a matter of taking a three-note chord and voicing it throughout a huge orchestra, doubling notes in different instruments to create the sound. When you analyze this music, you can still break it down to the small parts and thankfully figure out what's going on—as long as you know what notes the instruments are actually playing.

Realizing that a full orchestra is playing only fairly simple triads and seventh chords is a bit of a revelation. For some, it can make the act of symphonic composing less impressive. Have no fear; the real genius in writing for large groups is not what chords are present, as chords are just the culmination of melodies that intersect vertically. The brilliance is in writing for different groups of instruments and making them sound cohesive.